When I was first contacted by the
book depository I was beyond thrilled to be given the opportunity to review a
book! I was given a list of books to pick from, and Red Sky in Morning by Paul Lynch was one of them.

The story takes us back to 1832,
in Ireland. Coll Coyle and his family are being evicted from their house. The landlord’s
son decides he want them off their property for no apparent reason. With a baby
on the way and another very young child, Coyle decides to confront Hamilton and
tries to get him to change his mind.

But bad luck seems to be
following him, and soon Coll finds himself on the run. With no money and
nowhere to go, he eventually ends up on a boat to America. He has no plan, only
one goal: getting his family back.

¶¶¶¶¶

Red Sky in Morning isn’t a book I would’ve picked up on my own; it
wasn’t something I am used to reading, and to be honest I hated this book at
first. I started to read it on the bus on my way to school and I couldn't get
into it.

I found the writing dense, and it
is a really slow read. I was frustrated with myself because I couldn't get through
it. But, I decided not to give up on this book, and so last night I got
comfortable in bed, and was ready to give it another fair chance. And I'm glad
I did.

Even though the prose is heavy,
it has a lyrical tone that matches the mood of the narrator. You can feel that
he is leaden with sadness. You get wrapped in his troubles and can’t help but
feel infuriated by all the injustices he faces.

I was really mad at Coyle at the
beginning because of how he reacted to the situation he put himself in, but then I felt he was also disappointed with
himself, he wants to redeem himself for his actions, in a way, and that’s what
made me fall for this book. He is definitely not a selfish man. He is perfectly
and beautifully flawed. It was hard for
me to relate to any of the characters, but I found myself admiring Coyle a lot
throughout the story.

Like I mentioned, the story is
slow paced, but constant. It is not a read where you’ll want to race to the end
to see what will happen. The writing style, once you get used to it, is
beautiful and you want to enjoy every single sentence.

"People
aren't people. They are animals, brutes, blind and stupid following endless
needs they know not of what origin. And all the rest that we place on top to
make us feel better is a delusion. The price of life is the burden of your own
weight and some people are better off without it."

In conclusion, I would definitely
recommend this book to people who like historical fiction. I ended up enjoying
this book a lot more than I originally thought I would, and I wouldn't be
against reading more of Paul Lynch’s writing.